Comments on: Wednesday Roundup: On Wisconsin editionhttps://historiann.com/2011/02/23/wednesday-roundup-on-wisconsin-edition/
History and sexual politics, 1492 to the presentWed, 23 Aug 2017 02:59:08 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: Bill Cronon’s Wisconsin e-mail FOIA’d, $hitstorm ensues : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the presenthttps://historiann.com/2011/02/23/wednesday-roundup-on-wisconsin-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-21034
Sat, 26 Mar 2011 14:47:54 +0000http://www.historiann.com/?p=14259#comment-21034[…] of Wisconsin historian William Cronon’s op-ed in the New York Times on Monday about recent events in Wisconsin’s political history and his new blog, Scholar as Citizen. (Enemies of liberty everywhere watch out, he’s got a […]

]]>By: Cowgirl Up: my talk at the University of Texas : Historiann : History and sexual politics, 1492 to the presenthttps://historiann.com/2011/02/23/wednesday-roundup-on-wisconsin-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-21033
Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:47:27 +0000http://www.historiann.com/?p=14259#comment-21033[…] the sexy cowgirls–I thought this was a feminist blog? This question was inspired by a thoughtful comment left by m Andrea last week, which (believe it or not) was the first time in three years that anyone has ever questioned me on […]

]]>By: Historiannhttps://historiann.com/2011/02/23/wednesday-roundup-on-wisconsin-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-21032
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 13:28:33 +0000http://www.historiann.com/?p=14259#comment-21032And, truth be told: you are the first person ever in the three years I’ve been blogging to raise this issue, and that’s rather surprising, don’t you think? (I point this out not to marginalize your opinion, but to marvel that although I wonder about it every time I put up a cowgirl, no other readers have questioned me or called me out on it!)

]]>By: Historiannhttps://historiann.com/2011/02/23/wednesday-roundup-on-wisconsin-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-21031
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 13:24:03 +0000http://www.historiann.com/?p=14259#comment-21031m Andrea: no offence taken. Although I use the cute cowgirl pinups as an ironic commentary on the objectification of women, I’ve frequently wondered about the many different ways they might be read, and if my heterosexual male readership is mostly tuning in for the pinups. But, I think they’re really sexy too, and they represent a particular glamorized vision both of women and of the American west that never existed in real life.

I guess one of the things I wonder about as I get older is the appropriateness of using them not because they’re sexualized images, but because they’re sexualized images of women who are increasingly younger than I am. Now that I’m (theoretically) old enough to be their mothers, it gives me pause. I wonder: if I continue to blog, do I want to be “using” these women when I’m in my 50s? Believe it or not, there are many Elvgren images that I won’t use because they’re really pR0n-y. The ones I use are PG-rated, while there are several out there that border on NC-17 or even X-rated. (Just go to google images and type in “Gil Elvgren,” and you’ll find them pretty fast.)

I also wonder about the whiteness of all of these women, and the message that sends about my blog. Then again, I think as a white woman that I would probably hestitate to post a provocative image (even a drawing or painting as opposed to a photo) of a Latina or African American cowgirl because that would appear too exploitative. (They exist but they tend to be more contemporary images, some of them obviously pR0nographic. Elvgren restricted himself to images of white women, so far as I’ve seen.) Maybe that’s wrong or too delicate by half, but that’s where I am now.

]]>By: m Andreahttps://historiann.com/2011/02/23/wednesday-roundup-on-wisconsin-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-21030
Sun, 27 Feb 2011 06:34:56 +0000http://www.historiann.com/?p=14259#comment-21030Er, uh. Unless you’re a woman who is sexually attracted to those 50’s pinsups, the ones that (non-ironicly) emphasize tits and ass, would you please at least just reconsider using them? They’re kind of triggering for me. I realize I’m probably more sensitive to the presence of sexism much more than most het women, and your blog an all that. (And it is indeed a great blog!)

It’s just that any image selling or glamorizing the sexual availibility of women tends to squick me out, *especially so* on a blog purporting to be feminist in orientation. Susan Brownmiller said it pretty well:

“Perpetuation of the concept that the ‘powerful male impulse’ must be satisfied with immediacy by a cooperative class of women, set aside and expressly licensed for this purpose, is part and parcel of the mass psychology of rape.”

Using those type of sexualized images to accent their posts seems to be a trend among feminists in general nowadays, but it’s never clear if it’s intended as irony. For instance, those pinups from the 40’s were that generation’s version of porn generated for the sexual pleasure of men. If this trend continues, in a couple years feminists will be posting images taken from today’s Hustler without bothering to analyize their own internalized Male Gaze. I’m expecting Feministing to start using that infamous meat grinder image any day now as symbol of their own liberation…

]]>By: truffulahttps://historiann.com/2011/02/23/wednesday-roundup-on-wisconsin-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-21027
Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:39:28 +0000http://www.historiann.com/?p=14259#comment-21027We should not overlook in this the right wing assault on public education. The assessment obsession is a superb distraction. Development of critical thinking skills? The people’s history? No time for that, we have facts to memorize! If you don’t know what working conditions were like before the labor movement, how do you know to value unions today? If you can’t look at what’s happening in Egypt and say hey, we kind of have a cleptocracy here too, how do you know when it’s time to say enough is enough?

wini is right on about the roots of country music though I must disagree about yodeling. (Good) Yodeling is a wonder, not something to be got past, imho.

FWIW, my kids and I have been singing Pretty Boy Floyd a lot lately. “Now gather ’round me children, and a story I will tell…”

]]>By: Comrade PhysioProfhttps://historiann.com/2011/02/23/wednesday-roundup-on-wisconsin-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-21026
Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:00:12 +0000http://www.historiann.com/?p=14259#comment-21026You know where all those Democratic state legislators are that have fleed their states to stop sicke-fucke Republican scumbagges from destroying everything decent?

]]>By: winihttps://historiann.com/2011/02/23/wednesday-roundup-on-wisconsin-edition/comment-page-1/#comment-21025
Wed, 23 Feb 2011 18:38:45 +0000http://www.historiann.com/?p=14259#comment-21025I have a whole Bookmark section dedicated to union songs right now. Further up the island in Scotland there is: